The invention applies in particular to regulating the temperature of the air admitted to a supercharged engine connected, where appropriate, to an exhaust system fitted with a particle filter.
It is desirable to cool the air admitted to an engine, in particular when the engine is supercharged by means of a turbocompressor unit provided firstly with a turbine located downstream from the engine and driven by the exhaust gas from the engine, and secondly with an admission air compressor arranged upstream from the engine. Because it is heated in the compressor, the air admitted to the engine must be cooled on leaving the compressor in order to optimize the performance of the engine and minimize polluting emissions.
In order to cool the air admitted to an engine, in particular at the outlet from the compressor of a turbocompressor unit, it is already known in the state of the art to provide a device for regulating the temperature of the air admitted to the internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, the device being of the type comprising a first heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the admission air and a heat-transfer liquid, serving to regulate the temperature of the admission air and connected to a circuit for cold heat-transfer liquid.
Such a temperature regulator device is described in particular in U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,697.